October 25, 2010

Effective Prayer; What Does It Do and How? By George Tr

Effective or Effectual Prayer is a recurring Theme in Scripture. With all the stuff passed off daily on TV and in Religious Houses as intercessory Prayer; i thought this would be a good topic note to pass on. This information is gleaned from an over 1000 page study on The Book of (The Revelation Of Christ Jesus), written by J Preston Eby. I share it because the content is very much on point about happenings now in these hectic days of rampant misquoting and commercialism of Scripture.

James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous (made right by God) man availeth much.

If we would fulfill the divine function of the kingdom of God on earth let us cherish the motions of God’s Spirit in our hearts. The mariner may spread his sails, but the ship cannot go to its destination without a gale of wind; so we may spread the sails of our endeavor, but we cannot bring the kingdom of God on earth without the moving wind of God’s Spirit! How vital then becomes our sensitivity and yieldedness to the motions of the Spirit, motions to prayer, motions to intercession, motions to praise and worship and thanksgiving. "When thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry tress, then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee" (II Sam. 5:24). So, when we hear the voice within us, the secret inspiration stirring us up to pray, we must hasten to move with God. It is the power of His kingdom in manifestation! While the Spirit works in us, we should work with the Spirit. Oh! make much of the motion of the Spirit — it is the energizing of the fire of God within to accomplish great and mighty things for the kingdom!

God is bringing a great and wonderful change in the lives of His sons in this realm of prayer! If you are still living out of your human consciousness you will believe that your prayers will influence and convince God to do things. That is still part of the carnal, human, religious nature to believe that whatever we want God will accede to and give us if only we pray loud enough, fast long enough, make enough promises to God, or something else to force His hand. Now don’t misunderstand what I say! I’m not saying we shouldn’t pray, nor am I saying there is no power in prayer to move the hand of God and change things. What we need to do is change our understanding of prayer and our concept of God!

We get into this religious thing where we think that if we ask enough we can somehow influence God to grant whatever it is that we think is good or needful. Don’t we understand yet that God is God, and God is going to do what God is going to do! No amount of praying, pleading, begging, beseeching, or reminding God of His promises is going to force the hand of God to do something for us. The great truth is just this — the only prayer that will ever be answered is the prayer that God puts in our hearts to pray! The high priest must put the incense upon the coals with our prayers in order for them to ascend — He’s not going to answer anything else! That’s why we must pray "in the Spirit" and "with the Spirit."

It is only in and by the Spirit that our prayers can be "according to the will of God." As we pray out of the mind of Christ instead of out of our own carnal understanding and desire, our prayer becomes effectual — energized — for such prayer is the very word of the Lord going forth to proclaim and creatively accomplish His redemptive plan and purpose! Isn’t it wonderful!

The broad scope of the wonderful ministry of prayer is given us by the apostle Paul — yet even in this it must be as we are prompted and guided by the indwelling Spirit.

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, SUPPLICATIONS, PRAYERS, INTERCESSIONS, AND GIVING OF THANKS be made for A-L-L M-E-N…for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who WILL HAVE ALL MEN TO BE SAVED, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a RANSOM FOR A-L-L, to be testified (proven, demonstrated, fulfilled) IN DUE TIME" (I Tim. 2:1-6).By George TrFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/georgetr